Trees, trees, and more trees!

Chris and I spent this past weekend up at our land and, as the title of this post suggest, we had a lot going on with our trees. We Chris cut down a large tree at the edge of our clearing so that we can now get the truck and pop-up circled around without having to do a lot of back and forth maneuvering to get the camper straightened out. We're so excited about this because it's going to make getting the camper set up that much easier!! And as he was getting the tree chopped up into pieces, I was hauling it into the woods and dumping it away from our campsite. Talk about a workout!

this is the tree we had to cut down. It was tall!  Chris is there at the base, getting ready to make his first cut.

That sucker was supposed to fall completely the other way, but it was so windy this day that it was just going to go whichever way it wanted...and it came straight at me!!! I was hoping to get video of it falling, but as soon as I saw the top coming my way, I stopped looking and ran!! It ended up falling across our driveway. Good thing we'd moved the truck before cutting the tree. :)

Chris got it cut up and I had it cleared away so we could get the truck back up to the clearing.

Chris got to use a "toy", this bobcat, to move some gravel we had delivered. We used the gravel to expand the clearing and shore up thin spots along the drive. You can't tell from this picture, but he had a huge grin on his face the whole time he was using this.

This is a picture of 100 white pine trees that we bought from the DNR to plant on our land. We actually got about 50 of them planted. The sun was out both days and really fried me...no, I have no pictures and even if I did, would not show them, but believe me, I'm red!!

This is Jason's tree, that we planted in a perfect spot and marked with pink marking tape on a tent stake, so that we can show him in the years to come that this one was planted just for him. Grow, baby, grow!

Finally, one more tree story...this one includes a black bear. Yep, Chris (and I) finally got to see a bear up near our land. He has wanted to see one since we bought the property a few years ago. This guy was trying to get across a road about a mile from our place and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. I'm so glad I had the camera in the front of the truck and could get to it in time before we passed him. He had run back to the edge of the woods when the car ahead of us passed him and we were able to slow down enough to get a good picture of him standing by the tree at the side of the road.

He was so cute, but I'm also saying that from the relative safety of the confines of the truck! I think I would have very different thoughts if he had come walking up to our campsite!!!

7 month anniversary...and counting

So, Sunday will be 7 months since we saw this picture for the first time, the cutest little boy in the world, literally (at least in our opinion!).

We can't believe it's been 7 months already and yet, we are still waiting for that final call to tell us to hop on a plane and go to Korea to finally unite our family!  If someone would have told us back in October that we would not be celebrating Mother's Day 2010 with our child at home, I would have laughed at them...now it's our reality.  I want to scream at someone, hit something, and cry all at once, but what good will that do?   It won't get our baby home any sooner; no one we know has any control over what still needs to happen in Korea to get our son paper-ready to travel.   It is also frustrating in that, if we decide we want to adopt again, we have to wait until this adoption is final before getting back on any adoption list.  With Korea, we foster our son for 6 months after he comes home, until we can make the adoption official in the US.  Only then will an adoption agency place us back on their list.  With the slow down in the adoption process over the last year, we are going to be cutting it close with the age limit issue that many countries have, if adopting a second child is what we decide to do.  WE want to be the ones to decide if we will adopt again, not have the decision taken away from us because we aged out of the process!

We are also hoping to hear some news from the director of our adoption agency, who just got back from Korea this past weekend.  She is supposed to send out a general email this week to let us know any news that she found out when she went over.  Nothing yet, but the week's not over yet.  We're also hoping that maybe she brought a whole bunch of pictures back with her for all the waiting families and we'll be getting something in the mail soon!   I am hoping for some pictures from Baby J's first birthday, maybe even some video of him?!  Wouldn't that be awesome?!?!  We are getting closer to that coveted travel call, as a friend of mine just left on Monday to pick up her son whose referral was only one month before ours!!   Let's keep those TCs rolling so we don't miss any more "firsts."

On to some happier news now, my wish book for the quilt is finally complete!!!  Chris surprised me by doing his wish sometime over the last week.   He asked me when was the last time I had looked in the album, which was actually towards the end of last week.  When I rushed upstairs to peek at it again, he had placed his wish on the first page, which I had been saving for him.  I read it and could not keep the (happy) tears contained.  This little boy is loved so much already and we're going to pour it on him when we finally get him in our arms...we can't wait!!!!!  It's so nice to have that project completed, especially since the quilt has been done for a couple of months now!

Just reading it again brings tears to my eyes.  I look forward to the days I see my guys together doing father-son activities, or when our son is imitating his dad, looking up to him to teach him how to do "guy stuff."  My heart rejoices that I will finally be able to give my wonderful husband that gift...maybe not the way we were expecting it to happen in the beginning, but the way it was meant to be.

Now for a few pictures of my new nephew, E.:

"the ND kid"

Big brother C (he looks thrilled, doesn't he?), and baby E

those of the family who could make it to the hospital, welcoming E to the world!!

I tried uploading some video of the dogs again, but it's not working.  I'll have to figure out either what I did last time to get it to upload, or what I did wrong this time that it didn't.  Hmmmmm...any suggestions?

A new nephew, birthday cake, gift, house update, and video try

While typing this post, I received word (and a picture!) that I have a new nephew!! My sister and baby are doing well...as is her husband, I suppose...they didn't say anything about him! This is son #2 for them. So, my parents now have 3 grandsons...what will Brenda deliver next month?!!?

So, this post is going to be a mish-mash of things. Wednesday I made a cake for Baby J's birthday...it turned out very yummy, but I'll have to take Chris' word as I still cannot taste much and definitely couldn't that day!! I can vouch that it looked good, though!

We still have plenty left over if anyone wants to come continue the celebration with us!!

Last week, I went to an event where first-time mamas can buy gently used children's items (toys, clothes, strollers, cribs, books, etc) for their little ones. I got about 7-8 outfits, some large plastic connecting blocks, and a possible Halloween costume for Baby J. I also bought him his first, and probably only, horse!

Won't he look cute in this with some dark brown pants?! A friend of mine also got the cutest little pumpkin costume with orange and green striped leggings for her little boy...they're going to be the cutest boys out for candy, I assure you!!

This horse might be a little big for him now, but he'll definitely be able to grow into it.

Chris just finished another project on the back deck that has been waiting for a few months until it got warmer out. We had to replace the deck wall along one side and of course, the kind we wanted did not come in the exact length he needed, so he had to do some cutting and rebuilding (kind of like a puzzle). Well, it turned out amazing!!! You can't even tell that they weren't bought at the store like this. I've got such a handy guy for a husband. I forgot to get a before picture, but I took some during the project and at the end.

Measure twice, cut once...

...and it will turn out perfect!!!

Now to stain it all for the summer. :(

Okay, trying to figure out how to get our videos uploaded from the camera to the blog. I am trying with a short one first that Chris took of Lexi giving Jinx a bath the other day. This is common, especially after they come in when it's been raining outside. The picture isn't the best, but this is just a test run.

I had to revert to the old settings in my blogger to insert this, then reset it to the new ones, so I can't wait to see what it's done to all my other posts!! Holding my breath as I post this...

a birthday boy today

Dear son,

My heart hurts so badly today and my arms ache with emptiness.  Around others, I struggle to hold back the waterfall of tears that are inside me, but when I'm alone, there's no one there to see my tears fall.  Today you are turning one and your papa and I have never touched you, held you, or smelled your baby smell.  Why is this journey taking so long to bring us together as a forever family?  We have been waiting so long to be parents and it's awful not to know when you will be coming home to us.  I know we will have many birthdays with you, but that is in the future.  It's right now that we're thinking about...this birthday that we're missing.  We will celebrate by making you a cake and blowing out the candle ourselves; we're also going to go out for dinner and think about the days that we will be a family of three!  We long for the day we receive our travel call so that we can finally spend the rest of our days with you.  We miss you, baby boy, and long to hold you in our arms.  We love you and hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Love, Mama and Papa

We got the update...

...today!!  He now weighs 19.4 lbs and is 28.8 inches tall.  Not a picky eater, unlike his dad!  He's sleeping well and likes to play in the water during his baths.  He stands on his own for short periods and walks while holding on to someone.  We can't wait to meet him!!!

11 month pictures!!

Was I right, or what?!  As I said in my previous post, as soon as I wrote something on here, I felt we would then get some mail.  And look what we found in the mailbox yesterday...

He looks like he's getting so big!!!  We did not get an update on him, though.  :(  I'm going to try to find out some answers tomorrow from our agency's director.  Maybe since he's so close to his birthday, they are waiting for that milestone?  But I find it odd that, even though we requested the information, they did not send it this time.  I know someone who requested an update right before their child's 11-month check-up and they got an answer right away.  I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but part of me is wondering why they aren't giving us any information and I'm starting to worry a bit.  He's not "ours" until we get on the plane with him to come home.  I know I'm being paranoid, but I have that right as his mama!!  Don't get me wrong, we LOVE getting the pictures, but we also (understandably, I hope) want to know more about him, too.  *sigh*  Maybe next month.

(This really was supposed to be a happy post, but I'm sick and tired of not having gotten any written update on him since our referral 6 months ago while others seem to get them on a fairly regular basis.  I think the children's SWs should give out standardized information to all adoptive parents...but that's easy for me to say when I'm not the one doing the work!)

6 months ago...

...we saw our son's face for the first time!  We were so excited to have finally gotten "the call" that told us we would shortly be a family of three.  And even though that "short" time has now stretched out to a much longer wait than anyone had anticipated, we are still waiting anxiously and with hearts full of love for our little guy to get home!  We did request a physical update on Baby J a month ago since we have only had updated pictures and he's almost one year old, but so far we haven't heard anything from the agency about whether or not that request is going to be granted. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers!)  Other families have received updated information along with their pictures, so it seems some Korean SWs add this info and some don't.  It's frustrating and I wish they all had the same system of updating adoptive parents, but at least we've received pictures, for which we're very thankful.  Maybe by writing this, we'll get something in the mail soon!!  I am trying to stay positive now, as I know I won't be able to in less than two weeks when my little boy turns one.  I'm ready to hold that precious boy in my arms and fulfill my dream of being a mom in person!  Come on, Mr. Mailman...